Kipling's Jungle Book, The Thief of Bagdad, and Black Narcissus. "Selar Shaik Sabu made his first film appearance in 1937 as a 12-year-old orphan, having landed the title role in Elephant Boy purely by chance after being plucked from Indian obscurity by a British location crew. His rise to international stardom was swift and dramatic with leading roles in Alexander Korda's productions The Thief of Bagdad and Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book. But by the time he appeared in Powell & Pressburger's Black Narcissus in 1947 that stardom was already guttering, and during the remaining sixteen years of his tragically short life he was obliged to accept increasingly minor roles that mostly traded on former glories. Yet during those ten extraordinary years Sabu illuminated the screen in a way that remains without precedent. The renowned Hungarian film composer Miklos Rozsa wrote the scores for The Thief of Bagdad and Kipling's Jungle Book. Our edition restores them to the catalogue for the first time in decades. Sabu narrates the Jungle Book to Rozsa's music in character as Mowgli. The result is charming. The recordings were originally released as a set of four 78 RPM discs in 1940. The first ever film soundtrack album Black Narcissus is classic Powell & Pressburger; The Archers at the height of their powers. A triumph of artistry in cinema to which Sabu contributes the memorable role of the young general."